Sounds Of The Sixties Christmas Special 2025 Quiz

Answer: Darlene Love

"Christmas) The snow's comin' down
(Christmas) I'm watchin' it fall
(Christmas) Lots of people around
(Christmas) Baby, please come home..."

In 2024, a listing of 'The 100 Best Christmas Songs Of All Time' by Billboard magazine staff put "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)"at number two.

This was on an album produced by Phil Spector, who also co-wrote the song. It made number 15 in the USA and number 22 in the UK in 1963.

Love later told 'The New York Times': "When I'm singing it, I'm telling everybody to come home to their loved ones. I'm inviting families to get back together again. This is the time to do it."

Answer: Dean Martin

"Oh, the weather outside is frightful
But the fire is so delightful
And since we've no place to go
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow..."

"Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" was written by lyricist Sammy Cahn and Broadway composer Jule Styne in 1945.

It has been recorded by a plethora of artists. Dean Martin released the song in October 1959, but it did not chart in the 1960s, and it reached number six on the Hot 100 and number 13 in the UK in 2018.

Answer: Stevie Wonder

"Oh yeah
Candles burning low
Lots of mistletoe
Lots of snow and ice
Everywhere we go
Choir singing carols
Right outside my door

All these things and more
(All these things and more, baby) Oh
That's what Christmas means to me my love
(That's what Christmas means to me my love) Whoa yeah
Ha ha, yeah, and you what I mean..."

"What Christmas Means To Me" reached number 57 in the UK in 1967 and number 42 in the USA.

Wonder had a track record (no pun intended) of releasing Christmas songs and had a 1967 album "Someday At Christmas".

Answer: The Beach Boys

"You better watch out, you better not cry
Better not pout, I'm telling you why
Santa Claus is comin' to town..."

In 1934, John Frederick Coots and Haven Gillespie wrote "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town" in just ten minutes.

Eddie Cantor sang it on his radio show in November 1934 and it became an instant hit. The morning after the radio show, orders of 100,000 copies of sheet music were received and by that Christmas, the sales had passed 400,000. The earliest known recorded version of the song was by banjoist Harry Reser in October 1934.

For a fun song, it has been covered by many serious artists - more than 200 versions. The Beach Boys got in on the act with "The Beach Boys' Christmas Album" in 1967 - one of 56 they had on the Billboard 200 album charts.

It included a number of staples. "Santa Claus is Comin'..." was later said to be the "worst song" on the album.

Answer: Barbra Streisand

"Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Let your heart be light
Next year all our troubles will be out of sight
Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Make the yuletide gay
Next year all our troubles will be miles away..."

Judy Garland first sang "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" in the movie "Meet Me In St. Louis" in 1944.

Over the years the lyrics have been changed somewhat with various performers putting their own take on it.

Barbra Streisand put it on "A Christmas Album" in 1967. It became one of the biggest-selling Christmas albums of all time. Indeed, Streisand had 55 albums in the top 40 of the Billboard 200 - setting a record for a female singer.

Answer: The Ronettes

"Frosty the snowman
Was a happy, jolly soul
With a corncob pipe and a button nose
And two eyes made out of coal..."

"Frosty The Snowman" was written by Steve Edward Nelson and Walter "Jack" Rollins, and became popular after it was recorded by Gene Autry.

Phi Spector was the man behind the cover by The Ronettes, which was released in November 1963.

Unfortunately for the band, that coincided with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and America was not ready for a happy, bouncy tune. The original release did not chart, but in 2001 it made number 92 on the UK charts.

Answer: Elvis Presley

"I'll have a blue Christmas without you
I'll be so blue just thinking about you
Decorations of red on a green Christmas tree
Won't be the same dear, if you're not here with me..."

The lyrics of "Blue Christmas" were written by Jay Johnson and music by Billy Hayes.

The first release was Doye O'Dell in 1948, while Elvis cut his version in 1957 for his "Elvis' Christmas Album". His single was released in 1964 and made number 18 in the USA and number 12 in the UK. His version also reached number 18 on the Hot 100 in January 2024.

For all his popularity, the King was reluctant to release the song, according to Millie Kingham, one of the backing single singers on the single.

As always, having The King release one of their song was a big fillip for the songwriters. They claimed to have earned more in royalties in the first year of Elvis's version than all of the other previous versions combined.

In 1968, "Colonel" Tom Parker - manager of Elvis - persuaded NBC television to a Christmas special featuring just his man. With a scheduled broadcast in December, "Blue Christmas" was part of the songfest. At one stage it was placed number seven in a 'Rolling Stone' reader's poll of "The Best Christmas Songs of All Time."

Answer: Adam Faith

"Soft brown eyes that seem to say.
Stay a while I want to play.
Would you, could you do please stop?
He's a Lonely Pup in a Christmas Shop...

A dog is for life, not just for Christmas, to borrow the promotional slogan of the Dogs Trust in the United Kingdom. (The Trust provides accommodation for unwanted canines and promises to never put down a healthy dog. The Trust has 22 centres providing homes for 15,000 dogs each year. In the USA, in the first half of 2025 1.2m dogs - and 1.2 million cats - were in animal shelters.)

The English singer Adam Faith's song about the plight of homeless dogs "Lonely Pup (In A Christmas Shop)" peaked at number four on the charts in 1960.

Answer: Nat King Cole

"Chestnuts roasting on an open fire
Jack Frost nipping at your nose
Yule-tide carols being sung by a choir
Folks dressed up like Eskimos..."

Mel Torme and Bob Wells wrote the song in Teluca Lake, California, on a hot July day.

Nat King Cole recorded it for the first time in 1946 and again several more times. In 1962 a stereo version made number 65 in the US. It has been re-released several times since, achieving differing chart positions each time.

It was at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in the week this quiz was written in December 2025.

The song has been covered many times, including a parody by that dysfunctional yellow Simpsons family.

Answer: Aretha Franklin

"Sleigh bells ring, are you listening,
In the lane, snow is glistening
A beautiful sight,
We're happy tonight.
Walking in a winter wonderland...."

Richard B. Smith wrote the lyrics and Felix Barnard the music for "Winter Wonderland" in 1934.

It has been recorded by just about everyone in mainstream music since.
(Among these was Elvis Presley, but he still stays in this quiz because "Blue Christmas" is much more identified with him. Sadly it bumped the Johnny Mathis song "Do You Hear What I Hear?" off the list in case anyone remembered his 1958 UK number 17 version of "Winter Wonderland".

In 1964, the song was a non-album single by Aretha Franklin. No chart record has been found.

Answer: Chubby Checker & Bobby Rydell

"Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock
Jingle bells swing and jingle bells ring
Snowin' and blowin' up bushels of fun
Now the jingle hop has begun..."

Released in 1957 by Bobby Helms,"Jingle Bell Rock" was first recorded in 1957 - songfacts.com called it "the first mainstream rock 'n' roll Christmas song."

The cover by Chubby Checker & Bobby Rydell reached number 21 in the USA in 1961 and number 40 in the UK in 1962.

Answer: Doris Day

Refrain:
"Silver bells (silver bells), silver bells (silver bells)
It's Christmastime in the city (it's Christmastime)
Ring-a-ling (ring-a-ling), hear them ring (hear them ring)
Soon, it will be Christmas day..."

Jay Livingston and Ray Evans wrote the song after seeing Salvation Army bellringers in New York City. The duo were later to win three Academy Awards for other songs.

"Silver Bells" was initially entitled "Tinkle Bells", but the writers were told, to quote Astronaut Howard Wolowitz, "Oh no, that's not a very good name".

The song appeared in the movie "The Lemon Drop Kid" in 1951, where it was sung by Bob Hope and Marilyn Maxwell. The first recorded version was by Bing Crosby and Carol Richards.

Doris Day sang the song on "The Christmas Album" in 1964.

Of course you knew she also sang "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!"

Answer: Burl Ives

"Have a holly, jolly Christmas;
It's the best time of the year.
I don't know if there'll be snow,
But have a cup of cheer..."

In 1964 this was a number four on the Hot 100 and number 40 in the UK.

It's often forgotten nowadays what an influential figure Burl Ives was in music, television and cinema. In movies he won an Academy Award for "The Big Country" (1958).

In music he influenced the next generation of folk singers.
A lot of his professional and philanthropic work was tainted, though, by his cooperation with the House Unamerican Activities Committee.

Answer: Brenda Lee

"Rockin' around the Christmas tree
At the Christmas party hop
Mistletoe hung where you can see
Every couple tries to stop..."

Although Brenda Lee recorded this in 1958 - when she was aged 13 - it dd not enter the charts until 1960, when it reached number 14 in the USA and number six in the UK.

In 1956 she recorded "I'm Gonna Lasso Santa Claus", and "Christy Christmas" as "Little Brenda Lee."

Lee's version has re-entered the charts on several occasions. It was a number one on the Hot 100 in 2023, and when this quiz was written in December 2025, it was number three. (Number one was Mariah Carey with "All I Want For Christmas Is You". As an alternative, there is always "All I Want For Christmas Is You To Leave" by the duo Folk Uke - Amy Nelson and Cathy Guthrie.)

It is estimated that Lee's version has sold 15 million copies.

Answer: Andy Williams

"It's the most wonderful time of the year
With the kids jingle belling
And everyone telling you be of good cheer
It's the most wonderful time of the year..."

"It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year" was written for "The Andy Williams Christmas Album" in 1963 by George Wyle and Eddie Pola.

The song was not released as a single until 1968. Finding chart positioning was a torturous process, however musicchartsarchive came up trumps, showing the song entered the charts numerous times in the US, reaching a high of number five in 2021. It peaked at number nine on the Official UK charts in 2017.

Andy Williams was one of the great crooners at a time crooners abounded. It is estimated he sold 100 million records.